I need a job

[peique]

Dude, with all due respect, that is a terrible CV.

A CV should create a picture of you as a person. A single page of tickboxed buzzwords like the one you've posted will get tossed into the bin by any decent hiring manager.

Write some paragraphs about each position you've held, the projects you worked on, the skills you used. Personal shit doesn't really matter, but it's crucial to clearly describe your professional experience and show how it's relevant to whatever job you're applying for.

I'll try and do that, I'm terrible at making CV's indeed, thanks for the tip.

[jrandom]

I'll try and do that, I'm terrible at making CV's indeed, thanks for the tip.

No worries, practice makes perfect.

Feel free to ping it by me if you want any comments on your revision. Don't be shy.

[imdying]

Keep posting them up, we'll keep looking over them. Above all, sell yourself... 'why would I want to hire you'?

[jrandom]

That's a good improvement, peique. By the way, don't just update your top post - post a new reply to the thread with your new version attached, which will bump it to the top of the list and prompt people to check it out again.

Good grammar and spelling throughout - single error was writing PC's instead of PCs. Don't use apostrophes for plurals.

Let's see now... I'd add a comment on your 8 years experience to the top paragraph, just to make it clear at first glance that you're relatively experienced, but otherwise it's looking pretty good.

Which employment agencies are you with? I can recommend Duncan & Ryan, although I don't think they have an office in Christchurch.

[peique]

That's a good improvement, peique. By the way, don't just update your top post - post a new reply to the thread with your new version attached, which will bump it to the top of the list and prompt people to check it out again.

Good grammar and spelling throughout - single error was writing PC's instead of PCs. Don't use apostrophes for plurals.

Let's see now... I'd add a comment on your 8 years experience to the top paragraph, just to make it clear at first glance that you're relatively experienced, but otherwise it's looking pretty good.

Which employment agencies are you with? I can recommend Duncan & Ryan, although I don't think they have an office in Christchurch.

Thank you for all the tips, removed the apostrophe and added a comment about my experience. I hired a couple agencies from Christchurch.

[avgas]

Hate to say it mate - but making it a .doc file leaves it fairly open to....well....everything.
I once applied to a company that wouldn't take 'raw' data CV's. They felt they were too advanced for that stuff. pdf's seem common these days.
What else do you guys thing about that sort of stuff?

[_Gina_]

No worries, practice makes perfect.

Feel free to ping it by me if you want any comments on your revision. Don't be shy.

I would second this, definitely take this guys offer up

CV writing is not everybodies forte, I read plenty of CV's and I would have assumed that you were a school leaver trying to up-sell your work experience and wouldn't have interviewed you because there was nothing in there which told me about you or why I should consider interviewing you.

I am sure that if you had a decently prepared CV that you would find employment.

Good Luck.
Gg

EDIT:

I recommend that you change your template, if you want I will send you a basic one, up to you.

[bluninja]

Wow, if this catches on maybe I'll post my CV here to get my next job....and I ride a motorbike

As for CVs (without the apostrophe) there are good one's and bad one's and that will vary based on whoever views them and their personal likes/dislikes.
The purpose of a CV is to get an employer to contact you; if it does that it's good in my book. Lots of agencies in the UK just search on keywords, you can get your CV looked at by sticking an appendix at the end of all the software/hardware you've ever worked on. That way your CV keeps popping up in their faces and provided the start of the CV hooks them, you could get a call.

Another tip; on Monster etc...put several versions of your CV around, perhaps geared to different roles you want, or with lots of detail versus very brief. Most people are fast scanning, so they won't remember your name, but it gives you a chance of having your CV looked at in a style that suits the viewer.

Final tip. Identify 5 companies you really want to work for. Personalise your CV for them and send it to them. Call the personnel department/manager your CV went to ask after your CV and seek feedback from them. Even if it's a no (not just now) they may weel give you constructive advice that can help you improve your CV and the chance of being employed by them in the future.

BTW I changed roles 4 months ago....I was getting 3-4 calls a day from recruitment agencies based on my CV...clearly my CV got their attention. Sadly the number of interviews was much fewer....so my CV wasn't as attractive to the actual employers as it was to the agencies. Still it's a numbers game getting the interviews.....and I was offered my current position at the second interview I attended.

[_Gina_]

....I was getting 3-4 calls a day from recruitment agencies based on my CV...clearly my CV got their attention. Sadly the number of interviews was much fewer....so my CV wasn't as attractive to the actual employers as it was to the agencies.

IMHO

Recruitment consultants often have no grip on the sort of person/experience or skills that their client is looking for.

Not only that, but often the company HR manager relays their perception of the hiring managers ideal person to the recruitment consultant.

Then when the hiring manager interviews the person they are not at all what they were looking for......

Manager and interviewee both end up feeling like they have wasted their time.....

[jrandom]

Recruitment consultants often have no grip on the sort of person/experience or skills that their client is looking for.

Not only that, but often the company HR manager relays their perception of the hiring managers ideal person to the recruitment consultant.

Spot on.

I've done a lot of the second (technical) interviews for software development teams in various companies. CV and recruitment agent recommendation, I found, generally have very little bearing on whether anyone's any good.

The single most important indicator of candidate quality was always how someone performed when solving a practical, typical job task on the whiteboard in the interview. In fact, I've observed over dozens of interviews during the last several years that that's about the only reliable indicator of subsequent job performance.

Interviewing is very difficult to get right. Hiring the wrong person into a team, or particularly into a loosely-supervised role on their own, can have disastrous consequences. It's far, far better to remain short-handed than to hire the wrong guy.

peique's CV, for instance - he has 8 years of (presumably) relevant experience, it's tidy, and doesn't have a single spelling mistake. I'd get him in for an interview on that basis.

The best candidate I was ever involved in hiring had a thoroughly crappy CV - he'd just finished his PhD on a topic that was unrelated to the stuff we were working on, and his only work experience was as a student hostel supervisor.

You just can't tell anything much from CVs.

[peique]

Hate to say it mate - but making it a .doc file leaves it fairly open to....well....everything.
I once applied to a company that wouldn't take 'raw' data CV's. They felt they were too advanced for that stuff. pdf's seem common these days.
What else do you guys thing about that sort of stuff?

I don't see how that matters, most companies accept CVs in DOC, PDF or RTF format. I'd have no problem converting it to PDF. There was a time I had my CV in HTML format.

[peique]

I recommend that you change your template, if you want I will send you a basic one, up to you.

If you don't mind, post it in this thread and I'll download it, it may be useful to other people too.

[MotoGirl]

If you don't mind, post it in this thread and I'll download it, it may be useful to other people too.

Yes please! I'd be interested in seeing a good CV. I think mine is OK because I've been a Technical Writer and can spell and punctuate, but whether the format is OK is an entirely different question!

[boomer]

theres a page missing from your CV mate and by george your mother christened you with a mouthful dint she.....